I am a Senior Political Contributor at Forbes and the official 'token lefty,' as the title of the page suggests. However, writing from the 'left of center' should not be confused with writing for the left as I often annoy progressives just as much as I upset conservative thinkers. In addition to the pages of Forbes.com, you can find me every Saturday morning on your TV arguing with my more conservative colleagues on "Forbes on Fox" on the Fox News Network and at various other times during the week serving as a liberal talking head on other Fox News and Fox Business Network shows. I also serve as a Democratic strategist with Mercury Public Affairs.

White House Record On Women Should Be Better

One of the key discussions during Wednesday’s presidential debate focused on the matter of equality for women in the workplace.

The President has long sought the high ground on the issue, pointing to his signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Act that provided women with more legal room to file lawsuits to redress instances of employment discrimination. Governor Romney made his case based to his record of staffing his Massachusetts cabinet with more proportional representation of women.

A review of the respective records of the candidates reveals that both have some real problems in this area.

Despite Governor Romney’s assertion that he sought out the assistance of Massachusetts based women’s groups to help him bring more women into his administration, the post debate fact checking is turning up a bit of a different story.

It turns out that the Governor did not proactively seek out the women’s groups for their advice on bringing more women into his cabinet as we now learn that a coalition of Massachusetts women’s interest groups actually took the initiative to provide these names to the Governor in the effort to increase female participation in his administration. We also now know that in the final two years of Romney’s term, 75 percent of his new appointments went to men while, throughout the entire four years of Governor Romney’s time in state office, only 18 of the 65 judicial appointments he made went to women.

However, the White House also does not have much to brag about when it comes to accomplishing equal representation of women in Obama administration.

Using the 2011 figures, the most recent available, 7 women were earning the highest staff salary offered in the White House compared to 14 men—meaning that only one-third of the top jobs were filled by women. This is clearly not representative of the population as a whole, given that there are slightly more women in America than there are men, and particularly problematic when we consider that—according to the U.S. Census Bureau —there are more working women with a college degree than there are working men. This would indicate that there is no reason to expect that women would, somehow, be less qualified for White House jobs than their male counterparts.

To be sure, the Obama record on equality in the workplace is an improvement over the previous administration as during the comparable point of the Bush administration there were just 3 women who had achieved the top salary. However, it seems fair to say that the White House would have done themselves a big favor had they strived for more equal female representation if the plan was—and is—to hold themselves up as a model for equality in the workplace.

When a salary analysis of the same time period is done to see how women fared when considering the entire White House staff, we find that women, on average, earned about $10,000 a year less than the men.

It is hugely important to note that this figure does not represent women being paid less for doing the same job as a male employee. The White House is not engaging in discriminatory behavior when it comes to providing equal pay to women who are doing the same job as a male counterpart.

What it does mean is that women working in the administration are, on average, placed in lower paying jobs than men and that suggests they are, again, on average, holding down jobs that comes with less responsibility. And while the White House record in this regard is better than the national average, it must still be pointed out that this administration has failed to make the symbolic and real effort to achieve parity for men and women in that particular workplace.

Further compounding the negative side of the record =are the stories that have leaked out of the White House over the years—stories of women on the inside of the Obama administration not being treated with the same serious intent as one should expect from the Obama team.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Comments

Rick, the government shouldn’t force nature to behave in a way that makes us do certain things. This is where you liberals are wrong. You think that you can force the natural order of life into your liberal box. You can’t. Women are not men. We are the female half of what it takes for humanity to be healthy & whole. America originally was chivalrous in nature in that we women were worshiped as women, as only what a female can offer, being a wife & mother. You liberals have destroyed us by forcing us into the role nature designed for men. & have degraded us utterly with your abortion of our natural American matriarchal order of existence. You have knocked us down & kicked us in the teeth & forced us to take on the role that naturally belongs to men.

Your creations are always contrary to nature & life. You force people to hire minorities, you force people to give women “equal” pay. You force things that don’t belong to exist in nature. All sentient beings are created equal, let’s just say it like that. & we were given by our creator equality. We can only have opportunity when we are not artificially risen by governments. Genuine equality means that everyone has equality. You equality involves kicking everyone down, so that you can artificially rise a few. That’s tyranny to most & welfare to some. Unnatural & unfit to sustain life.

Gays are not equal in nature for the necessity of the propagation of life. Women do not get equal pay because they are not men. You can not force humanity into your little box of governmental designs, it is not viable. It does not fit.

Liberals have destroyed America though destroying the tradition of independence from government help through strong families. Prior to the rise of liberal social engineering, America had almost zero poverty & need for welfare. We raised government independent citizens through natural, faithful, moral, families. Now, poverty is a plague, welfare blankets overlap & take over, & the government raises the child. Mother, father, child no longer know each other, we are so ripped apart by you.

We are now a nation of family values that read about like a cross between 1984 & sheer chaos. You constantly tell us that the woman needs to abandon motherhood, abandon her children, to be an “equal” of men. That is neither natural nor real. & it has created a society of welfare dependent criminals, Mr. Ungar.

I just said on another thread that romney is conservatisms caligula. He is. The right is enduring & has endured for the past sixty years at least, an all consuming IDENTITY CRISIS!

The right has brought nothing substantial to the table of the American People in the way of social values, perhaps ever. As a result, you have had free reign. You liberals & your social values have ripped America to shreds sir. You created a welfare nanny state culture that kills people. Destroys children, families, nature, life, viability, health, social liberalism kills, period.

But as I have said before the right merely shoves a bible down any & all American throats & then proceeds to walk away.

Identity crisis yes. Wrong, absolutely not. I hope that you read this. People like you & need to talk. Those of us who are willing to abandon partisan bias for the sake of what really works will be the only way that we can get through this.

Is it a little more clear why I so detest the rights Caligula? Thanks Rick.

(& a side note, after shopping the other day as I said that I was off to in my post to your story, I have resolved never to engage in it again. Me Thinks inflation has hit. I shall now go out into the woods & gather. & most of my fathers family are in Columbus. So I too have ties to Ohio.)

signed, -Liberty to the infinite degree. These two are interchangeable, liberty, infinity. Once you find one, you’ll see the other occupies the same.

If I’m understanding you correctly, you are simply saying that women are not as capable in the workplace as men. Is that a fair understanding? If this is what you are saying, I have to wonder why you are blaming that on liberals as opposed to the women who have decided they wish to enter the workforce and compete on an equal basis? I know a great many women, starting with the on-air talent over at Fox News, who certainly identify as conservatives and yet want to be in the workforce and believe they should be paid on the same basis as a man doing the same job. How do you explain their behavior? Are liberals to blame for putting a talented woman like Meaghan Kelly on television? Are you suggesting that she is doing this against her wishes and the ‘natural order of things’?

What I am saying is that you can’t force people do do everything. You guys always force people to rise above. It actually creates an artificial order. You constantly gift things to people who have not earned them. I am not saying that women are not as capable as men in the workplace. I am saying that you need to let the issue of engineering social order through force go. It doesn’t work, it isn’t fair.

How is it fair or equal for an employer to have to hire minorities because of force, & not because they have earned it. That is what you are advocating. I, as a female, have always been working among men, & am in fact happy only when outdoing them personally. It is the force that you have a penchant with that I oppose.

How can you justify the need for all women to have equal pay, & to forgo having earned it? How can you justify always giving opportunities to minorities who have never had to earn them? How exactly does forcing the rise of something not earned make society better?

& do you have any idea how badly the young woman, not Meaghan Kelly, but the average young woman in America is treated by society because of your liberal designs on America. Young women are now seen as worthless unless they are having abortions & in the role that naturally belongs to me. What about poverty? Welfare? The all our destruction of traditional values by liberals has created a society in shreds. Is that what you want? Young women seen as objects to screw & take to the abortion clinic & spit on if they don’t join the work force? That is the very real that all young American women are treated.

Liberal values in America have destroyed the fabric of humanity. Period. There are far too many negative aspects in reality to your liberal policies to justify paying the few who haven’t earned equal pay, just because you feel the need to force us into your marxist box.

It is communism Rick. Liberal ideology is communist social design. They create a government dependent, absolutely unworkable society. What about the negative aspects? Have you seen the real America? Our woman are not occupying foxnews. Nor the corporate boardroom. American women are living the life of a wretch thanks to you. They are no longer worshiped, they are not respected as a female.

You force females to be men. To be looked at like men, to assume the mans duties, to abandon womanhood, her female aspects, & don the workforce.

Why? So America can live as a communist nation. Dependent on welfare & government. You have taken humanities natural strength, the family, away from America. Only to replace it with welfare. & then you cry out, “give more to those who did not work to earn what they have”.

It’s communist. Back in the 1830s when all of this was blooming in America, it was easy to see that communism wasn’t viable as a way of life. Society forced into the abandonment of government independence. Society destroying families. That is really all that liberalism does, attack government independence by ripping the family to shreds.

Do you think that the kind of family that you grew up in in Ohio exists today in America? When we were children Rick, we all had parents, remember? Children today do not have parents. We are raising a nation of people without stability.

We are raising a nation of government dependent basket cases Rick. Because of your sides designs on us. Your schools are fascist, in that your teachers no longer teach our children. Do you think schools today are like schools of your youth? No, sir. Schools today tear children apart, vying for more union power for teachers.

I won’t say any more for fear Americans will vote for romney. Liberalism has destroyed America bar none.

Republicans have been absolutely incapable of doing anything to stop you. & are today incapable of making America any better.

Do you deny the life of a real American female? Your boardroom scenario

It seems to me that your kind of using a lot of words and a lengthy speech to change the subject. My question is pretty simple. Do you believe that women should have equal rights to complete for jobs and do you think that they should be paid the same as men for doing the same job effectively? While I certainly have no problem with your elaboration, it seems to me that you ought to be able to answer those questions with a yes or no. Why don’t you do that?

Well if you can’t confront what liberal social values have done to America fine then Rick. I guess you’ll just ignore everything that I said & keep to your little partisan path. That’s fine.

No, I do not believe that it is appropriate to force companies to pay woman for something that did not come naturally.

I also do not believe that colleges should be forced to take minorities because of their minority status.

You are just going to sit there & deny all of the negative aspects that liberal social order has created & ask about forcing companies to pay females based on their status as a female & not the work they’ve done.

How is it based on their work Rick? You are saying female pay should be equal to mens.

No, & you obviously aren’t capable of having the kind of discourse necessary on these issues to make any real sort of headway.

I am sorry for your loss of understanding, or ability to even acknowledge what you’ve really done to us.

Oh, excuse me, I’m elaborating again.

I said no. Now you answer yes or no, have social liberal values destroyed Americas’ families & our ability to be government independent. Yes or no Rick, yes or no.

Society as a whole is in shreds Rick. We no longer have healthy families here. We are a massively welfare dependent nation. Crime is rampant, drug use, all of these things are due to the liberals all out attacks on natural family values. What, is it a coincidence that Americas families are practically non existent? That society built according to liberal values is killing us slowly.

You liberals always do that too. You take the exception as the whole. Your wife & daughter are not in the majority here. Nor is Mrs. Kelly. You put forth the small minority , always as some proof that government must needs to force us all into creating an unnatural reality.

There are healthy families. But most are not. I am sorry that you can’t get the gist of my assertions. I appreciate your opinions though.

Here’s the problem – while you appear to be very bright and make very well stated and considered arguments, you lose me the moment you say, “you liberals”- something you say quite often. I don’t think you will ever catch me saying “you conservatives” because there is no such thing as “you conservatives”. I know many, many people who identify as conservatives. And while there are some shared believes and ideas, no two of these people are identical. Thus, when people think in terms of “you liberals”, it telegraphs to me that you’ve lost-or never really had- the understanding that every person is an individual, with individual thoughts and beliefs, some shared with others, some that aren’t. What I find particularly odd is that referring to me as one of ‘you liberals’, you reveal a thought process that is antithetical to what is typically understood as a conservative philosophy-a philosophy that you might be surprised to find I have more in common with than you would expect. I would respectfully suggest that until you are able to take people as individuals, and overcome viewing the world as divided in groups, you will not only miss a great deal about people but will see your ability to influence diminished. Of course, that is just my perspective and I don’t really know if it is one that belongs to “the liberals”.

I don’t think that it is inappropriate to refer to liberal policies the way that I did here. You know what I meant. The liberal way of doing things is what I meant.

Always a person must resort to personal criticism when they have no real substantive argument to put forth.

You are going to deny the state of this nation in shreds & that liberal social values are the direct cause of our decline.

We are just butting heads here Rick & so I’d say we’re through with this little venture. I do appreciate the opportunity for you to state your case.

I should have asked for proof of this conspiracy against women. But no matter. We’ll call it a draw.

As stricktly illumination of to whom you are speaking with, I am a female who was born in the mid sixties, been in Washington State all along, & believe unequivocally that life consists of solely of a lovable variation of natures forces. I ascribe to the asian manifest of each is one of the whole, & all are equal. The human soul, I deem the human heart, in order that liberty might be infinite is god, each, & all if they can so rise alone. The natural universe is my home.

It’s not that conservatism can’t win. It’s that the right can’t open it’s mouth & make words come out that will make it clear what happened here.

I’m glad that you appreciate what I say. I’m pretty much just tired of seeing peoples lives destroyed by our liberal culture.

What a disaster this place is. & romney, what a phenomenally bad choice by the right. We had someone to take America into full on recovery via return to the values that make freedom, morality, faith, family stuff.

I’ll be here hatin’ on the failure of both sides. Looking for a culture that is government independent. & rich baby, bloody filthy stinking rich with happiness & money. We can get it back. Today if Americans so desire.